Code Geass: Children of the Revolution
by Keith Fraser
Summary: AU. Don't you hate it when you're having a nice game of Take Over The World with your friends and your little sister wants to play too? When Nunnally discovers Lelouch's identity as Zero, she decides to help him in any way she can.  Chapters 2-3 revised.
1. Chapter 1: One Missed Call

_**Disclaimer: **__Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us._

**Note:** This is the second of my two Nunnally-centric Code Geass AU fic ideas, the other being Code Geass: Nunnally of the Liberation, the prologue to which has already been posted. I've started a poll on my author page to see which of the two people would most like to see continued; please read the other piece if you haven't already, and vote for which you preferred.

**Code Geass: Children of the Revolution**

**Chapter 1: One Missed Call**

"I'm home, Oniisama!" Nunnally called as Sayoko guided her through the front door. There was no reply. "Oh...he must still be out."

"I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"I hope so..." Disappointed, Nunnally entered the living area behind Sayoko as the maid went to put the groceries away. Lelouch had been gone so much lately, seemingly not at his usual gambling since he hadn't been getting Rivalz to drive him. Nunnally was sure he just didn't want to worry her, but not knowing what he was doing worried her anyway. He could have got involved in something dangerous...or, then again, he could just be going on dates with C.C. He was still being rather vague about whether she was his girlfriend or fiancée or anything like that, but boys could be very silly when it came to such things, Milly said.

"Oh! Here he is, Nunnally-sama; he's fallen asleep at the table," Sayoko said with a small giggle. "Shall I wake him?"

"No," Nunnally decided. "He must be very tired; I'll sit with him a while."

Sayoko helped her get settled next to the table, then tiptoed away and left the siblings alone. Nunnally sighed contentedly as she sat forward and listened to the peaceful rhythm of Lelouch's breathing. Asleep or not, it was wonderful to be close to him for a while. She felt so lonely (even though they lived in a school full of people) when he was gone most of the time and they only saw each other for a few moments of the day, if that.

An unpleasant thought occurred to her. Could he be spending so much time away from home at the moment because looking after her was becoming tiresome? He would never say such a thing out loud, but she was sure spending time with a crippled girl who couldn't do so much could not be as interesting as other things he might be doing, however much he loved her. Especially if he really did have some kind of relationship with C.C.; with her around, they might not be able to do the kinds of things boyfriends and girlfriends did together (Nunnally was uncertain as to what exactly those things might be, since Lelouch always shushed Milly when she got onto the subject).

The ringing of Lelouch's phone cut through the tranquil silence and broke her unhappy train of thought. Tutting, Nunnally scrambled to find it and turn it off before it woke him, and managed to locate it by his hand. She stabbed randomly at the buttons to stop the irritating buzz, which finally cut off. Relieved, she put the phone down.

"Zero? You there?" asked a tinny voice in Japanese, causing Nunnally to jump. She opened and closed her mouth, not sure what to do.

"Zero?" the voice repeated.

Nunnally hesitated a moment longer, then lifted the phone. "N-no. I think you have the wrong number."

"Wait, who is this?" The voice was cut off as she found the right button and ended the call. Then she dropped the phone as if it might explode and shrank back into her wheelchair, biting her lip nervously. She had no idea what to think about the strange phone call, and found herself oddly afraid to ask Lelouch about it.

"Was that Lelouch-sama's phone ringing?" Sayoko asked from the doorway, making Nunnally jump.

"Yes...but it was just a wrong number, I think."

"Are you all right, Nunnally-sama? You look pale all of a sudden."

"No, I'm not feeling well. I think I should lie down for a while. Don't wake Oniisama, I'll be fine. I just need a rest..."

Sayoko knew something was wrong, Nunnally could tell, but she said nothing as she helped her onto her bed and covered her with a light blanket. Nunnally thanked her, then was left alone with her wild thoughts, desperately trying to decide what to do. She knew she could try to forget the whole thing, tell herself it really was just a wrong number or part of some game Lelouch was involved in. Normally, she would have assumed exactly that and not worried any more. This time, though, it was impossible for her to do so – and that, she realized, was why she felt so lost and horrified: because it was all too easy for her to believe that the call had not been to the wrong number, and that Lelouch was Zero, the terrorist leader. It made too much sense to be impossible.

Lelouch hated Britannia for what had happened to them, to their mother and to Japan; Zero waged war on Britannia on behalf of Japan.

Lelouch had always been kind to those weaker than himself, and got angry at people who did the opposite; Zero had proclaimed that he would punish those who oppressed the weak.

Suzaku was their friend; Zero had saved Suzaku's life. Come to that, he had saved Milly, Shirley and Nina at Lake Kawaguchi as well. Could that be why he had gone against the Japanese Liberation Front?

Zero had first appeared during the Shinjuku incident; Lelouch had been home late that day...Nunnally's breath caught as she matched up many of his absences with reported sightings of Zero or the Black Knights. Tears began to prick at her eyelids as the weight of evidence sank in. The realization tore at the very foundations of her world. She felt sick and dizzy, and above all more afraid than she had been since the day she woke up in a hospital bed to learn her mother was dead and she would never walk or see again. Lelouch had always been there to anchor her since then, but now it was almost as if he was a stranger. She could no longer think of him simply as the kind, gentle person who never did anything worse than skipping class to go gambling so that they could live comfortably.

For a long time, Nunnally lay lost in such painful thoughts, absently working the edge of the blanket through her fingers, until she heard the door slide open and Lelouch's footsteps. He knelt down next to the bed, touching her shoulder. She swallowed, steeling herself.

"Nunnally? Are you awake?" She nodded, but said nothing. "Is everything OK? Sayoko said you weren't feeling well."

"Lelouch, I need to ask you something, and...please give me a direct answer."

"Of course."

"Are you Zero?"

Nunnally easily heard Lelouch's shocked gasp, and his hand flinched away. "Why would you ask that?" His voice was high and wavering, and she knew at once that she had touched a nerve. "Wherever did you get such an idea, Nunnally?" He was trying but failing to sound calm, and Nunnally felt a pang of shame and regret for upsetting him – or at least, for upsetting the person she had always believed him to be.

"Are you?" She spoke more sharply and coldly than she had in years, surprising herself. That was good, though. She was speaking to Zero, she now felt sure, and Zero was a stranger, someone who had saved her friends but killed her half-brother and many others.

Lelouch was silent for so long that Nunnally thought she might faint from the sensation of her heart pounding and her insides knotting. Her hands curled into tiny fists where they clutched the blanket, digging their nails painfully into her palms. "Yes," he said at last. "I am Zero."

Nunnally let out a ragged breath. "Thank you for telling me the truth."

"I'm so sorry, I..."

"You didn't want me to find out. Why? To protect me? Or because I might be angry?"

"Both. I know some of the things I've done must seem awful, but they were necessary."

"Was killing Clovis necessary? He was our brother!" Tears sprang to Nunnally's eyes.

"He was a monster!" Lelouch shouted, making her jump. "The day he died, he ordered his soldiers to kill everyone in Shinjuku, just to cover up something he wanted kept secret. Women, children, old people...thousands of them. I saw bodies piled in some of the buildings, children crying for their parents while Britannians shot them in the head. That was the kind of man Clovis was!"

"You were there?" Nunnally gasped.

"I organized the terrorists to try to stop Clovis, then I sneaked into his command post and forced him to give the ceasefire order. The government reported the deaths were caused by stolen poison gas, but that was a lie."

"I remember you – as Zero, I mean – saying on TV that Clovis ordered a massacre, but I didn't want to believe it. He never seemed like that kind of person when we were little..."

"Maybe I overstated," Lelouch said. "It's quite possible he didn't think of the Japanese he had killed as people, because they weren't Britannians and he didn't have to look them in the eye as they died. Perhaps the massacre was just a temper tantrum, like when I used to beat him at chess. But if anything, that's worse."

Nunnally felt a little better – it was easier to believe Clovis had been stupid and selfish than murderously evil. She scrubbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry...this is difficult to take in."

"It's all right." Lelouch dabbed at her cheek with his handkerchief, wiping away her tears. A little while ago, she might have expected her skin to crawl, knowing what he had done with those hands...but it was just her brother's familiar touch. Tenderly, he cleared a few errant strands of hair from her face, and something broke inside her like a dam.

"Oniisama!" Nunnally threw her arms around her brother as best she could, burying her face in his shoulder as he pulled her close. She sobbed and mumbled, trying to apologize over and over again. He shushed her gently, stroking her hair.

"There's nothing you need to apologize for, Nunnally," he said at last when she had calmed down a little. "I don't blame you for hating me-"

"I don't hate you!" she protested. "I could never hate you!"

"Hating what I've done, then," he amended. "You have a kind and gentle heart that makes you believe the best of everyone...but the world isn't so gentle. I wanted to make it that way for you."

"For...me?"

"Yes. Remember your wish? For a gentle world?" Lelouch sat up, keeping his hands on her shoulders. His voice rose as he spoke, taking on an implacability that Nunnally recognized. "I made that my goal, higher than defeating Britannia or getting justice for Mother or even freeing Japan. Creating a world without war, without oppression, where no-one is looked down on for what they are and cannot change! Where the whims of a few greedy men cannot kill thousands of others!" His tone softened. "A world for you."

Nunnally was briefly speechless, shocked and a little frightened by Lelouch's intensity. She could understand why so many people were willing to follow him without even knowing who he was, and how dangerous that could be. She was unsure how she felt about the fact that he had become such a person, done the things he had, for her. Awed, certainly, but also somewhat guilty.

Something else drew her away from that line of thought for the moment. "Justice for Mother? You found out who...who..."

"Maybe we should start at the beginning."

It took a long time for Lelouch to tell her everything, even though she tried not to interrupt too often. So much of his story seemed completely incredible. Stealing Britannia's own Knightmares to use against it? Driving right up to Cornelia in a news van? And then there was the seemingly magical power – Geass – that C.C. had given him. At least that explained why the mysterious girl had appeared, and why Lelouch had been vague about who she was. Some of it was difficult to listen to, of course. Imagining both the danger Lelouch had put himself in and the ways he had used people – Japanese and Britannian – to achieve his goals put her heart in her mouth. When he had finished, she remained silent for a while, trying to process all the information. At last, she spoke, trying to recapture the tone she had used earlier to speak to Lelouch-as-Zero.

"Lelouch. Please understand, I...appreciate that you became Zero and risked your life to do all this for me. But in future, if you want to do something on my behalf, please ask me first."

"All right."

"I won't have my name put to anything I don't approve of."

"I...understand."

"That said...I want to help you finish what you've started, Oniisama." Lelouch gasped, but she continued. "If you're going to create a new world for me, I want to have a hand in making it. I know there's not much I can do, but...at least let me know what you're doing. It would help to be able to talk about everything, right? That must be difficult, when you're keeping who you are secret from the Black Knights."

"Nunnally..." Lelouch sounded deeply unsure about agreeing to that, as well he might. But this was something Nunnally had no intention of backing down on. She would be his conscience, his voice of reason, and his confessor, should that be necessary.

"Promise me you will?"

"All right. I warn you, though, it may not be easy."

"I don't care. Not knowing whether you're alive or dead whenever you're away would be worse. I would do more if I could...if I could just open my eyes, C.C. could give me a Geass like yours, and I could be a lot more helpful."

"No! I forbid it! That would be far too dangerous."

"But you said that it's different for everyone. I might get a power I could use for you without having to go anywhere or get into danger. Like being able to see the future, or making a Knightmare appear out of nowhere..."

"I don't think they ever work like that last one."

"Maybe not." She sighed. "Anyway, it doesn't matter, since I can't open my eyes." Lelouch squeezed her hand.

"It's all right, Nunnally. Just by being here, you...you make my life worth living."

"Oniisama..." The siblings embraced again.

"Do you feel up to something to eat?" Lelouch asked at length.

"Sure," she smiled. "Can you tell me more about the Black Knights as well? Is Kallen really completely different out of school?"

"Not just out of school. When she thought I was Zero..."

Dinner was rather odd – it was almost like everything was back to normal. A person watching from outside, unable to hear their conversation, would probably have had no idea that the two sitting at the table were not talking about their respective school days, but about the ins and outs of life in a terrorist group, and the finer points of supernaturally assisted spying. Now that his secret was out and Nunnally had got over the initial shock, Lelouch seemed quite willing to talk about his other life, and it seemed to do him good – he even laughed out loud when she explained about the phone call, shaking his head at how fate kept playing jokes on him (so that was why he had been in such a frantic rush to catch the cat that day!). As she had suspected, keeping so many secrets and working under so much stress had taken a lot out of him, and the only person who had known about all his activities so far had been C.C. – and she, at least by Lelouch's account, wasn't a very sympathetic listener. So Nunnally let him talk well past her usual bedtime, surprised at how interesting she found it all.

When Lelouch finally noticed the time and put her to bed, she was exhausted, but it took her a long time to get to sleep. She kept thinking about her eyesight, and what she might be able to do if she could only see again. This wasn't something she thought about much, because there was no point. She had tried and tried as a child to open her eyes, and driven herself into violent temper tantrums when she failed. Supposedly her blindness was all in her mind; if she wanted to see again, she could, but on some level, she didn't. Knowing how stupid it was, she tried to think about forcing her eyelids up, but as always, something made her stop. She gritted her teeth and turned her head to bury her face in the pillow, fighting back tears of frustration. With an effort of will, she cleared her mind and concentrated on going to sleep.

Her dreams were troubled, but not by the usual nightmares. First she was assaulted by a confused mixture of scenes where Lelouch, as Zero, ordered his soldiers to do terrible things – massacring Britannians, killing his own allies when they failed him, even shooting Euphie. She begged and pleaded with him to stop the entire time, but he paid no attention. The dream ended with a gun being placed to her own head, and she awoke to a horrible few moments of paralysing fear before she remembered that none of it had been real. She drifted back to sleep again, seemingly to better dreams at first. Lelouch was still Zero, but now he kept her at his side and asked her advice, checking that everything he did was all right with her. And it all went perfectly: the Japanese rallied to them, the Britannians gave up, and Cornelia proclaimed Japan a free nation and took her soldiers home.

But that pleasant dream quickly shifted into even worse nightmares. She heard Lelouch die over and over again: stabbed in the back by a spy, shot by soldiers, his Knightmare blown up...even, horribly, killed by Suzaku, who for some reason was crying as he did it. As in the earlier dream, Nunnally was powerless to do anything, because she couldn't move to save him or see to be able to warn him of danger until it was too late. In the final, most terrible scene, they were being stalked through their home by an assassin who seemed to be able to move too fast for Lelouch to see where he was much of the time. He kept striking and running, opening bleeding wounds that Lelouch tried not to make her notice as he moved.

At last, Lelouch was barely conscious, and Nunnally could hear the assassin coming up behind him. She knew where he was, roughly, but not enough to be any use. Lelouch had a gun that he had dropped at her feet as he collapsed, but she couldn't find it or use it. They were both going to die. If only-

If only she could-

Her eyes snapped open wide, and she could suddenly see everything around them in perfect clarity. Without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed the gun, turned in the direction of the unsuspecting assassin, and fired – and the dream ended, plunging her into peaceful sleep.

The sound of activity outside in the school woke her the next morning. For a while she lay, still half-asleep, wondering why she felt so different today, until she remembered what had happened.

The door opened, and she felt the warmth of the morning sun on her face as the curtains were opened. "Good morning, Nunnally."

"Good morning, Oniisama," Nunnally murmured as she came fully awake. She lifted her head off the pillow, pulled herself up on her elbows, and opened her eyes.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Code Geass Children of the Revolution Presents: Secondary Characters Theatre!**

"Who on earth was that?" Ohgi wondered, staring at his phone, whose screen still read 'ZERO'. "It sounded like some Britannian girl, but why would she be answering Zero's phone?"

"Maybe he's getting information out of her...if you know what I mean." Tamaki elbowed Ohgi in the ribs with a wink.

"Tamaki, she sounded about twelve years old. That's disgusting."

"Oh, right."

"If some soldier had answered it and tried to keep me talking, I'd think he'd been captured, but that...I'd better dump this phone to be on the safe side."

"You going to try and contact Zero again?"

"I'll get Kallen to try tomorrow."

**Timeline Note:** _Children of the Revolution_ opens between the end of R1 episode 8 (the announcement of the formation of the Black Knights) and the main events of episode 9 (Kallen's episode), during the period where the Black Knights are raising their profile by weeding out corruption and criminal activity. For those familiar with the DVD extras, it begins before episode 8.75 (the picture drama where nearly everyone visits the opening of the Clovisland pool).


	2. Chapter 2: Baby, You Read My Mind

_**Disclaimer: **__Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us._

**Notes:** This is a revised version of Chapter 2, now featuring scenes from Lelouch's point of view.

**Code Geass: Children of the Revolution**

**Chapter 2: Baby, You Read My Mind**

Lelouch nervously left the kitchen and approached Nunnally's room, carrying a tray with a steaming plate of kedgeree and a pot of her favourite oolong tea. The prospect of facing his sister again was more than a little daunting, after the revelations of yesterday. He had spent half the night cursing himself for the mistake that had led her to find out about his double life, even if his worst fears of her hating and fearing him had not come true. The thought had even occurred to him to use his Geass to make her forget; return her to a state of blissful ignorance. However, he had no idea if it would work on her even if he could bring himself to force open one of her sightless eyes, and either way, he doubted he could ever violate Nunnally's mind that way without killing himself with self-disgust. There were some lines he would never cross.

"A young girl's first day as a revolutionary should start with a hearty breakfast. What a good brother you are." Lelouch suppressed a groan at the sight of his unwelcome roommate returning from the front door carrying a Pizza Hut box. As always, she looked unfairly well-groomed for someone who had just got out of bed, her eyes bright, her hair straight and gleaming and her skin clear.

"Go away. I'm not in the mood."

"What's new about that?" C.C. asked with a lascivious wink. Setting down the pizza, she leaned against the table and stretched lithely, making the hem of her shirt (his shirt, to be exact) ride up on her bare legs. He studiously averted his eyes.

"And get dressed, you can't answer the door like that."

"Why not?"

"Someone might get the wrong idea."

"Most teenage boys would be glad to have people know there's a scantily clad woman in their house."

"I'm not most teenage boys."

"That's certainly true."

Lelouch turned away in defeat. Nunnally's door slid open at the touch of a button, and he tiptoed in. Her sharp ears must have caught his footsteps nonetheless; she murmured sleepily and reflexively uncurled the hand she had clenched beside her face. Lelouch took a moment to look and smile fondly at her before setting the tray down and going to open the curtains. In repose, his sister looked as innocent and lovely as ever, her gently curling hair framing a face like a Botticelli Madonna. He felt yet another pang of remorse for disturbing such peace...but, he reminded himself sternly, he had not been the first to bring violence and death into her life. The morning sunshine flooded into the room, and there was a sudden, pained cry from behind him.

"Nunnally? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Lelouch was at her side in a heartbeat, touching the arm she had flung across her face. "Let me see..." She moved it aside...and he gave a high-pitched squeak and gaped. Her eyes were open, squinting and blinking but undeniably open and seeing, moving to focus on him.

"Oniisama? Am I still dreaming?" Nunnally continued to shield her face from the sunlight. "I can see you..." She reached out clumsily to touch his face.

"It's not a dream." Voice cracking, Lelouch hugged her tightly, then drew back to take in the sight again. "What...how...?"

"I dreamt you were in danger, and I couldn't save you without being able to see. So...I opened my eyes."

"Oh, Nunnally..." Lelouch smiled sadly, tears running down his cheeks. "I wanted the world to be different when you could see again..."

"We'll change it together," she said firmly.

"Shall I close the curtains again?" he asked, still not sure how to react to her enthusiasm for his crusade. "Your eyes aren't used to the light." She nodded.

/**/

Nunnally stared at Lelouch greedily as he returned to her side, eager to take in the sight of her brother after so long and unwilling to even blink in case her eyes never opened again. He looked like and yet unlike how she remembered; the same violet eyes several shades darker than her own with a familiar strong gaze, slightly wild black hair falling in front of them, the same lean frame and long-fingered hands. He had grown taller, of course, face more angular and intense, like a bird of prey...but so pale, so thin and stretched-out-looking. She had known he was tired and preoccupied, but it was still a shock to see it.

"What's all this noise about? Oh." Nunnally turned toward C.C.'s familiar, cultured voice, and saw her leaning in the doorway. C.C., it turned out, had a rather unusual appearance, with very pretty long green hair and golden eyes. She looked younger than Nunnally had expected from her voice and the way she moved, and was wearing a shirt that was too big for her, making her look smaller. There was a half-eaten slice of pizza in her hand, which seemed an odd thing to have for breakfast. Then again, Lelouch had said C.C. loved pizza (though he used words like 'obsessed').

"Hello, C.C.! I just opened my eyes, it's wonderful! Oh - I don't know if Oniisama told you, but I found out about him being Zero yesterday." C.C. remained impassive, but she shot Lelouch a look.

"C.C., I told you to put some clothes on for once," Lelouch said crossly. She simply rolled her eyes at him, finished her pizza and daintily licked her fingers, like a cat.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here, C.C.," Nunnally said. "Now that my eyes work again, would you give me a Geass like Oniisama's?"

"Nunnally, no!" Lelouch exclaimed. "I told you, it wouldn't be safe. C.C., I forbid you to-"

"Since when do I do whatever you say?" C.C. approached Nunnally's bed. "I don't normally take on more than one contract at a time, but..." She trailed off, staring into space.

"I said no!" Lelouch grabbed C.C.'s arm to pull her away. Nunnally clutched at his wrist with both hands.

"Oniisama, please." Nunnally looked up at him, eyes wide and pleading. "I won't do this if you really don't want me to, but...I don't want to be useless any more. Please?"

"You're not useless, Nunnally." Lelouch let go of C.C. to take her hands in his own. "Don't say that."

"You know what I mean." She looked away.

"Do you want a Geass or not?" C.C. asked. "Because if not, I'm going back to bed."

Nunnally looked into Lelouch's eyes. The silence stretched out until she almost forgot to breathe. Finally, he sighed and stood up. "All right. But if your power can't be used without exposing you to danger..."

"Then I won't use it unless you think it's safe," Nunnally promised.

Lelouch stepped back and nodded to C.C. "Be careful," he warned. "If anything happens to her..."

"Yes, I'm sure your revenge will be swift and terrible." Sitting on the edge of the bed, C.C. took Nunnally's hand and leaned close, studying her intently. Looking into her unusual eyes, Nunnally got the sudden impression that the woman was even older than she had first thought. She felt suddenly nervous; how much did they really know about this Geass power? A quick glance at Lelouch stiffened her courage.

"Here's how this is going to work. My contract with Lelouch will be modified to include you as well. One of you will fulfil the wish I told him of in return for the power I grant."

"What is this wish of yours, anyway?" Lelouch asked. "And why keep the price the same for two Geass instead of one?"

"I only have one wish." C.C. spoke calmly, sounding bored, but Nunnally felt a strange tremor through her hand. "Accept this contract and accept the Power of the King," she continued. "It will set you apart from other humans, and condemn you to a lonely path."

"How could I be lonely if I'm with Oniisama?" Nunnally interrupted.

C.C. fell silent and glanced between the siblings. She closed her eyes, and Nunnally felt a sad, weary sigh go through her. Then she opened them again, calm as before. "Do you accept?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

The room around her vanished, replaced by a spinning tunnel filled with filaments and streamers of light. Two great spheres like clockwork toys replaced the vision in its turn, followed by a red and orange planet spinning against millions of stars. Then she was back in her bed, and C.C. was releasing her hand. Disoriented, she lost her balance and fell back onto the pillow. Immediately Lelouch thrust C.C. aside and knelt at her side again, examining her closely.

"Nunnally? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I think it worked..." Nunnally felt something alien in her mind, knowledge that had sprung into being as if recalled when waking from a long sleep. It was as though she had suddenly found a sense or limb she had forgotten and remembered how to use it. The sensation was like and yet unlike seeing again, since she had never forgotten the use of her eyes, merely been blocked from doing so.

"Can you tell what your Geass does?"

In her mind's eye, she saw words and images streaming into her eye from another's. "Something to do with reading minds, I think."

"Test it on me, then, it doesn't sound dangerous. What am I thinking?"

"Oh, this should be a laugh. Sure you have no secrets from your sister any more?"

"Shut up, C.C.!" Lelouch snapped, not turning round.

Swallowing nervously, Nunnally did as new instincts told her and looked intently into Lelouch's eyes, setting her new ability loose as easily as blinking. She felt a strange, sharp sensation like an electric spark behind her left eye. A glowing red symbol in the shape of a stylized bird appeared in her vision, flapping into motion and crossing the gap between the two of them. Rings of the same colour appeared around Lelouch's eyes for a few moments, then faded away.

Nunnally gasped and convulsed, her body briefly rigid. More new information, vast quantities of it, blossomed in her mind.

_...hijack the Knightmare transport train to equip the terrorists, then use them to..._

"_Lelouch, you are dead, therefore you are not entitled to any rights. I am sending you and Nunnally to Japan..."_

_...queen takes king's bishop's pawn, checkmate, what does he take me for..._

"_Suzaku...for this, I swear...I will destroy Britannia!"_

_...the Britannian EX45 coilgun uses a G-class sakuradite energy filler and a twelve-dart magazine..._

"_Oniisama!"_

When she regained her awareness of the here and now, Lelouch was looking at her, blinking. "Did you get anything? I just felt disoriented for a moment."

"I got a lot. I think I read...everything you remember. From your whole life."

His eyes went wide. "Everything?" There was a snort from C.C. which they both ignored.

"Well, sort of. I don't remember every event as if I was there, just a few. The rest is just like reading a book about it. I can only feel what you felt inside at the same few times. I think they must be the moments that meant the most to you, like when you felt sad when Mother died or triumphant when you became Zero. And when you were worried about me, like just now..." She tailed off, unable to find words. There had never, at any time, been any real doubt in Nunnally's mind that Lelouch loved her dearly, but to experience it directly was almost overwhelming, like seeing herself reflected in a magic mirror that erased all imperfections. She smiled, suddenly shy.

"Isn't this heartwarming."

"Out!"

"Fine, I'm going."

"Sorry about that," Lelouch muttered as C.C. sauntered off, smirking. "I'll never understand that girl."

"I think she's lonely."

"What? She has an odd way of showing it, in that case."

"Well, if all she wanted to do was keep you alive, she could just watch you without you noticing - the fact that she found us proves that. I think she came to live here and pester you because she wants to be around people, but she hides it by being rude and sarcastic. And she seems...sad, especially seeing us together. You should be nicer to her; after all, she was kept prisoner in a lab for heaven knows how long, that must have been horrible."

He raised a sceptical eyebrow. "I'll...think about it."

"You never know, perhaps she might like to actually be your girlfriend."

"What- That- I don't-"

Nunnally smiled mischievously. "You don't seem to mind having a pretty girl living in your room that much," she said, thinking of the occasional stray thought or half-remembered dream her Geass told her he had been having. "Then again, maybe you prefer Kallen? You did see her without any clothes on, after all."

Lelouch gulped. "This...is going to take some getting used to," he muttered.

/**/

"So what's this about?" Kallen tried not to fidget too obviously as she waited with the rest of the student council, minus the vice-president.

Milly shrugged. "Lelouch just said he and Nunnally had something important to tell us. Your guess is as good as mine."

"You don't think they might be leaving the school, do you?" Shirley asked, wide-eyed. "They've both been absent for three days...something might have happened."

"I hope not, but if so, you'd better say anything you have to say to him quick!"

"I...I don't know what you're talking about, President!"

Kallen tuned the conversation out. Her mind was still preoccupied with the weird business of Ohgi's phone call to Zero the evening before last. Their leader had called later that night and explained that he had had to change his number unexpectedly, diverting the old one to somewhere else to avoid suspicion. It was plausible, but odd. However, like Ohgi, she had trouble coming up with any reason why a little girl would have answered Zero's phone (Tamaki's dirty-minded suggestions aside) unless it really had been a wrong number. One possibility was that it had been Zero or an accomplice of his using some kind of voice-changing device, but what would the point have been?

"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone." Lelouch opened the door for Nunnally's wheelchair, a broad smile on his face, rather to Kallen's surprise. His usual air of sardonic disinterest always dropped a bit around his disabled sister, but today he seemed almost like a different person. Oddly, he went to the window and started drawing the curtains as Nunnally halted at the head of the table.

"Ah...Nunnally, why are you wearing sunglasses?" Rivalz voiced everyone else's thoughts. The glasses in question were obviously Lelouch's, and looked comically out of place on Nunnally's face.

The room now dim, Lelouch returned to place a hand on his sister's shoulder. She smiled and removed the sunglasses. Immediately the rest of the student council jumped or cried out in surprise at the sight of her blinking her formerly perpetually closed eyes, which were large, luminous and pale violet. With them open, her face looked quite different, alert and focused instead of sleepy and vulnerable.

"Nunnally!" Suzaku rushed over to kneel down next to her wheelchair, followed by Shirley.

"I'm very pleased to see you all at last," Nunnally said. She glanced from face to face, smiling brightly. Kallen couldn't help smiling back - the younger girl's happiness was infectious. From what she remembered, Nunnally had been blind since the unspecified incident years ago that had crippled her, something Kallen found frightening to even imagine. It must have been even worse than being blind from birth. No-one deserved that, especially someone as gentle and sweet as Nunnally always seemed.

"How did you...?"

Nunnally glanced up at Lelouch. "I had a dream where Oniisama was in danger, and I couldn't help him without being able to see. I opened my eyes in the dream, then when I woke up, I opened them for real. Oniisama made a very funny noise when he saw it." Everyone laughed, Lelouch included.

"Lelouch in danger?" Milly asked, smiling. "You up to something you shouldn't be?" She poked Lelouch, who dodged aside.

Nunnally shrugged. "It was just a nightmare."

Kallen frowned. Was she imagining things, or had Nunnally's voice trembled a little? It could simply be fear from her dream, but it sounded suspiciously like evasion. The others seemed to sense that something had not been said as well, as there was a moment's awkward silence.

"See, Lelouch?" Suzaku said at length. "This is why you shouldn't go gambling in the city and getting into trouble. You're giving Nunnally bad dreams."

"You mean you'd rather she still couldn't see?" Lelouch shot back with a smile. Suzaku's eyes widened and he stammered a desperate denial, making Nunnally giggle.

Something was nagging at Kallen's mind. Lelouch, who she had suspected of knowing about her involvement in the Shinjuku incident, venturing out of the school unauthorized - Nunnally being concerned for his safety for some specific reason - a young Britannian girl with a high, sweet voice answering Zero's phone...her eyes widened. Surely not?

"This calls for a celebration!" Milly said with a dramatic gesture. "Someone call Pizza Hut and summon the finest victuals known to man!"

"I'll do it." Kallen forced herself not to run out to the foyer, pulling out her phone as soon as she was out of earshot of the others. She hastily placed their usual order with Pizza Hut, receiving a fawningly enthusiastic response (the school probably kept the local branch afloat single-handed), then made another call.

"Ohgi here."

"It's Kallen. I think I might have a lead on your mystery phone girl. Would you recognize her voice again?"

"Yeah, probably."

"OK, good, I'm going to leave this line open. Listen carefully and see if you hear her."

"Will do. Aren't you at school today, though? You think it was someone there?"

"Could be." Putting her phone back in her pocket, Kallen returned to the council room. She resisted the urge to punch Lelouch in his smiling face, grab the scruff of his neck and shake the truth out of him. Her original suspicions had been deflected by that phone call from the man she now knew as Zero that had come when she was in the shower and he was standing right next to her. She had been fixated on the assumption that Lelouch and the mysterious voice from Shinjuku were one and the same, since he had mentioned the place, but there were other possibilities, she now realized. Perhaps he was simply Zero's agent, unwitting or otherwise, which would certainly explain how Zero knew where and when to call her. Then again, if he was Zero, he could have used a recording or someone mimicking his voice - that idea probably should have occurred to her at the time, but she had been too flustered to think clearly (which might have been the point of surprising her in the shower).

"I was just saying, we have to have a festival to celebrate Nunnally's recovery," Milly said. "Maybe with an 'eyes' theme, and a competition to see who can come up with the most interesting sight for Nunnally to look at. What do you think?"

"I guess it's up to Nunnally." Kallen carefully moved closer to the wheelchair, angling her pocket to let Ohgi hear Nunnally's voice.

"I don't mind, as long as it's not too much trouble. And you're not allowed to make anyone do anything too weird, Milly," Nunnally admonished.

"Define 'weird'..."

"Does that mean we're not going to do the cross-dressing festival?" Rivalz asked eagerly.

"Not...this month." He and Lelouch groaned. "Although maybe you boys should dress up anyway, since Nunnally didn't get to see it last time."

"Oh yes! You all said how pretty he looked, and I was so jealous."

"Lelouch...dressed as a girl?" Kallen tried and failed to imagine it. He must just be Zero's dupe or pawn, surely? She couldn't connect the unflappable leader of the Black Knights with a boy who could be bullied into wearing a dress or have that pitiful expression on his face.

She took the opportunity to speak to Ohgi again by going to pick up the pizza from the door when it arrived, brushing aside the others' objections with a firm reassurance that she was fine, she could manage by herself, she wanted to help.

"Well?"

"Yeah, that was her all right. Who is she?"

"The little sister of the guy I was suspicious about before."

Ohgi swore softly. "He's involved with Zero after all?"

"Looks like it. I'd better not talk any more, they'll wonder where I've got to. Let's meet before the next mission."

/**/

"Sorry, Oniisama...I think that's checkmate."

Lelouch stared down at the chessboard, flabbergasted. He searched for a way out, but there was none. Nunnally's white pieces had trapped his black king. The only person to defeat him since he was seven years old was Schneizel...and now Nunnally, who had never played the game before in her life, had unravelled his every strategy. The sensation was not unlike being outsmarted by Cornelia at Saitama. He saw Nunnally looking at him apprehensively, and realized he was scowling. He hastily took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't apologize, Nunnally. I just...I never saw your trap coming. How did you do it? Not play the game, I mean - how did you set up the checkmate so subtly?"

She shrugged. "I knew where your king would end up after you advanced him and moved your king-side pieces around him, and I knew what you expected me to do in response, so I did it...just with a few differences I thought you wouldn't notice."

He nodded. It was much like what he would do in the face of an opponent whose strategy he already knew - let them think he was dancing to their tune, then strike and destroy them while he still held the element of surprise.

"That manoeuvre confuses people who're not expecting it, but I had an unfair advantage. If you had castled instead-" She gestured to her own king, secure behind a screen of pawns with a rook and bishop guarding him for good measure. "-I wouldn't have been able to get to him so easily even if I knew where he'd be."

"If the king doesn't move-" Lelouch began automatically.

"-how will his subjects follow? I know. You believe a leader should face the same dangers he sends other people into. But I don't think you're the king. In a sense, you're the queen."

He frowned, and Nunnally giggled. "I don't mean you're a girl, silly! The queen is the most powerful piece - she can do what none of the others can. Obviously there isn't a chess piece that can move opposing pieces, but the queen is the true leader. She and the others protect the king, who's weak and can't take care of himself. If anyone's the king in your chess game...it's me."

"Nunnally, you aren't weak." The image of their father lounging on his throne, dismissing Nunnally with a word as if her injuries were somehow her fault, flashed through his mind.

"I know, I know - not any more, anyway. I guess I'm like a pawn that's been promoted, now."

"Maybe we should invent a new set of rules, so that our metaphors don't get so confused."

She laughed again. "Now, how about a rematch?"

Much to his relief, he managed to win the next game by playing as uncharacteristically as possible, almost to the point of making random moves, bringing the board to a position unlike anything he had ever seen before. Nunnally was unable to adapt fast enough, and he managed to improvise a strategy on the fly to beat her. Facing a worthy, challenging opponent for a change (outside of real battle where people would die if his plans went awry) brought a sense of excitement to the game that he realized he had missed. Characteristically, Nunnally seemed to take the loss in her stride, more interested in sharing his favourite pastime than in winning.

In the third game they agreed to play as a tie-breaker, he again played deliberately uncharacteristically, albeit in a different way. Remembering her earlier comment, he tried to imagine that his king piece was really Nunnally rather than himself, and instinctively sheltered and protected it in a multi-layered defensive position. Nunnally caught on to what he was doing - her small smile told him as much - and switched to an aggressive posture led by her own king, more like his own preferred style. In this fashion, the game seesawed back and forth for a long time, almost like a dialogue rather than a battle. Eventually, however, both sides became depleted and, somewhat to Lelouch's regret, Nunnally's king was cornered and checkmated by his king and queen.

/**/

Nunnally found herself the centre of attention when she returned to class the next day, which was a novel experience. It was difficult for her to participate in class activities most of the time, and she was usually content to stay in a quiet corner at the back and work by herself, not bothering anyone. When she and Lelouch had first started at Ashford, quite a few children had made fun of her or tried to torment her since she couldn't fight back, which she had mostly ignored stoically, telling herself that being called names and having spitballs thrown at her was nothing compared to most of the other bad things that had happened in her life. When Lelouch and Milly found out, they had "had words" with the ringleaders, and it had died down. She still occasionally had problems when new students arrived or someone wanted to prove something, but for the most part her classmates left her in peace and were friendly enough when they spoke to her. Nevertheless, she could hardly be called popular.

Today, though, it seemed like half the class - mostly the girls - wanted to come over and exclaim over how wonderful it was that her eyesight had been restored. It was nice but a little wearing, and Nunnally was beginning to feel like a circus exhibit.

"Your eyes are so pretty, Nunnally!" Catherine Barton cooed as she perched on Nunnally's desk. Catherine was a tall, elegant girl with a rather strident voice, mature-looking for her age, and top of the class's social pecking order. She had never spoken more than five words at a time to her that Nunnally could remember, but she and her clique had seemingly decided she was now their best friend forever.

"Thank you," she replied politely.

"As pretty as your brother's," Catherine added with a sly smile. "Helena here can't stop thinking about him ever since she passed through the high school section on Swimsuit Day," Catherine said in a stage whisper. She made exaggerated kissing noises until Helena Black, bright red, swatted her with a textbook.

"Stop that! Ignore her, Nunnally, she doesn't know what she's talking about."

"I don't mind if you like my brother; I think quite a few girls do." This was something she could surmise from some of Lelouch's memories and things she had overhead, though he himself seemed to be quite oblivious to the fact.

"Really? Oh n-" Helena caught herself, and the others giggled.

"Excuse me," said a familiar voice. "Here you are, Miss Nunnally." Will Keating threaded his way gingerly through the crowd of girls with her usual Braille notes. One of the few boys in the class with whom she had much interaction, he quite often volunteered to hand things out. Unlike some people, who would carelessly drop the handouts on her desk like everyone else's, forcing her to grope around for them, he always announced his presence and was careful to put them into her hands. He proved to be short and sandy-haired, with a round, open face and blue eyes.

"Thank you, Will." Nunnally took the papers carefully - her hand-eye coordination was still terrible - and smiled up at him. He met her gaze, ignoring the whispers and giggles around them.

"Oh, do you still need those?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, for the moment. I was very small when I went blind, so I only ever learned to read ordinary writing a little." This was true, though Nunnally avoided mentioning that she could actually now read seven different languages, thanks to Lelouch's brain and her Geass.

"That's awful! How did it happen?" asked a girl whose name she wasn't sure of.

"It happened at the same time as my legs were damaged. I'd rather not talk about it," Nunnally said shortly. She and Lelouch had always been vague about the cause of her disabilities to help conceal their identities, and even part of the truth would horrify everyone here.

"All right, settle down!" the teacher called over the hubbub. "You can all discuss the miraculous Miss Lamperouge later."

"I'm glad you're back, Miss Nunnally," Will said quietly as the small crowd dispersed to their seats. "And that you can see again, it...I can't imagine what it must be like."

Nunnally was pleased, if a little taken aback, by the unfeigned emotion in his voice. "Thank you. It's...well, I suppose it's like coming to a foreign country. Everything's new and fresh and exciting to see."

Will took this in. "Oh, I heard at drama club that the high school division council are organizing a celebration for you, with a competition." Nunnally nodded. "That's great!"

She gave an embarrassed shrug. "Oh, Milly - the President - loves any excuse for a party."

"Can juniors enter?"

"The details haven't been worked out yet, but I'll make sure they can, if you want to."

"I do...in fact, could I...do a portrait of you?"

"Mr. Keating! Flirt on your own time, thank you," the teacher snapped before Nunnally could answer. There was a ripple of laughter from the class, and Will coughed awkwardly, gave her an apologetic look and hurried off. She blinked - she hadn't known Will painted or drew, but she supposed it wasn't something that was likely to have come up before. She could ask him about it later.

While the teacher explained the day's lesson, Nunnally listened with half an ear - Lelouch had learned this material years ago anyway - and thought about her Geass. All they had been able to determine about the power so far was that, like his, it only worked once on a given person. Lelouch had memorized the order of a deck of cards, and she had been unable to learn the new information from his mind. He had wanted her to test it around the school, but she had strenuously objected, not wanting to spy into people's private thoughts and secrets without good reason.

Fortunately, she had recalled that they were due to attend the opening of the Clovisland indoor resort in a few days, and suggested practising on the Britannian nobles who were sure to attend. She felt no particular guilt about reading the minds of the leaders of the occupation, who might have actual useful information for her to find to boot. There was some trepidation in her mind regarding what unpleasantness she might uncover, but she sternly told herself to be strong. If she was going to use her power to help Lelouch, she would have to learn to deal with, and do, a great many unfamiliar or distasteful things.

Indeed, this process had already started. She and Lelouch had spent the days she had been absent from school experimenting with her ability to put the knowledge she had pulled from his mind into practice. Playing chess against him had been rather fun, but strange. She had never expected or even really wished to be regarded as her brother's equal at anything, but now that it had happened - even if it was thanks to Geass - it was sweeter than she could have imagined.

Turning her mind to the Black Knights' operations had been more of a challenge. Lelouch had gone through his plans for their next few missions, inviting her to make comments and suggestions. Nunnally found it hard to view actions which could save or end people's lives in abstract, dispassionate terms, but that was precisely what Lelouch often did - to an often frightening extent. Still, she had expected to have to be his conscience occasionally. In time, she hoped she could temper her instinctive compassion with a pragmatic view of the bigger picture - keeping her own hands lily-white at all costs would do nothing to help the tens of millions of Japanese people suffering under the occupation, regardless of whether it let her sleep better at night, but at the same time there were lines she hoped she and Lelouch never crossed. She still vividly remembered her first nightmare of the other night.

Nunnally fervently wished for a future more like her happier dreams. She had learned years ago that wishing alone could not make something happen...so, now that she could, she would act.

/**/

"So what do we do if Zero is this Lelouch guy?" Ohgi and Kallen were talking behind the Black Knights' mobile headquarters, out of earshot of anyone else.

"Do? Tell the others and confront him, surely. If Zero's a Britannian, who knows what he's really up to?"

"You of all people should know that not everyone who calls themselves Britannian is our enemy," Ohgi reminded Kallen gently, making her flush. "He might have his reasons for helping us."

"But...he tricked us, even if he's someone else."

"He tricked you, assuming this theory is right," Ohgi corrected her. "Zero wasn't really working with us then, he didn't have any reason to trust you. He's never concealed the fact that he's not Japanese."

"So...we do nothing? He could be a double agent using us to get inside the resistance!"

Ohgi nodded. "You're right, and I'm not saying we do nothing. We'll bring the other original members in, and see if we can find out more before we take any action - we'd look pretty silly if it turns out this guy has nothing to do with Zero, or just works for him or something. Tonight's raid on the police station isn't going to harm our cause; the information on them came from one of Naoto's sources."

"But what if it's a trap and the police are waiting for us?"

"We'll be careful; we'll be watching for them anyway. Besides, what would be the point of sweeping us up now? He hasn't got in with Kyoto or the JLF or anything like that yet; they'd only catch us, and he could have done that weeks ago."

"I suppose so," Kallen said, uncertain.

"What kind of guy is this Lelouch, anyway?" Ohgi asked. "Does he seem like a radical or something?"

"Not really, but I don't know much about him for sure. He's smart, definitely, but mostly he acts like he doesn't care about anything, or just kids around." Kallen grimaced. "Half the girls at school are gaga over him because he's all 'mysterious' and 'brooding'. He's different around his sister, though...warmer, I guess."

"Sounds like Naoto. He acted tough all the time, except when he was in 'big brother' mode."

"He was nothing like - OK, maybe a little," Kallen conceded. "But everything Lelouch does might be an act for all we know. Nunnally might not even be his sister."

"Maybe." Ohgi shrugged. "I'd rather gather more information before we go crazy with paranoid theories. "

"I guess. You talk to the others; I'll see if I can find out any more at school."

"Try talking to the sister," he suggested. "She might give something else away. But be careful - she may know about you."

"I'll try."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Omake (with apologies to LittleKuriboh)**

"It sure is difficult to see in the dark with these sunglasses on," said Nunnally, "But I refuse to take them off because I'm a Britannian. And Britannians always wear sunglasses."

"Nunnally, that's not in the script," Lelouch said patiently.

"Screw the script," suggested C.C., "I have green hair."

**Omake 2 (with apologies to everyone)**

"You never know, perhaps she might like to actually be your girlfriend."

"What- That- I don't-"

"Can I have her, then?" Nunnally asked innocently, causing Lelouch, the cameraman, the sound guy and the 'The Making Of Code Geass: Children of the Revolution' crew in the corner to facefault.

"Meet me in my trailer in a couple of years," C.C. said, peering round the door and blowing Nunnally a kiss.


	3. Chapter 3: Increase Ratings Week

_**Disclaimer:**__ Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us._

**Code Geass: Children of the Revolution**

**Chapter 3: Increase Ratings Week**

Butterfly wings beat in Nunnally's stomach as she sat at the dining room table in front of Lelouch's laptop, looking at a map of the warehouse the Black Knights were about to raid. Dots showed the approximate locations of Lelouch and his subordinates via radio ID tags, and an earpiece connected her to their communications. A window in the corner of the screen displayed the feed from a small camera inside his helmet. He had set all of this up to give her as direct an insight as possible into the workings of the operation; she might have absorbed all he knew about tactics and command, but that was not the same as experiencing battle even at a remove, nor could her Geass make her mind work as quickly under stress as his.

Sayoko finished closing the curtains and stationed herself by the door as an additional line of defence to ensure no-one learned what Nunnally was doing. The Japanese maid had taken the revelation of her master and mistress's extra-curricular activities with remarkable equanimity, which made Nunnally suspect that she had known all along. She had placed all her talents as a ninja (something else only learned of through her Geass) at their disposal for the liberation of Japan.

Nunnally listened to the voices of the smugglers inside the warehouse through the bugs Lelouch had planted earlier, as they discussed payment for the crates of food and medical supplies that had been intended for the un-assimilated Japanese underclass in the ghettos. It made her queasy to think that most or all of the men she was listening to were about to die. Intellectually, she knew it would probably be necessary for the Black Knights to shoot first and ask questions later - the smugglers outnumbered them, and were definitely armed - but that knowledge didn't make the guilt go away.

"I know it's welfare, but it seems a shame to waste it on the Elevens."

"Which is why I'm selling it to you, right?"

"Yeah, the Eleven population needs thinning down a little. Breeding like rats in their ghettos."

"I'll transfer your payment to your wife's account as usual?"

"Sure. There's no need to get too paranoid about secrecy; Princess Cornelia's a soldier. This sort of thing's beneath her notice."

Nunnally suddenly felt a good deal less sorry for what was about to happen to the speakers.

The conversation was abruptly halted as the lights in the warehouse were switched off, making her shift her attention back to the grainy low-light feed from Lelouch's camera. Low thumps sounded as the Black Knights on point fired their silenced guns in synchronization, and the two sentries she could see fell to the ground. She gulped. Lelouch led the main group to the warehouse's fire escape at a run, making the image jerk up and down. They hustled up the stairs and onto the gantry above the warehouse floor.

The lights came back on, and she could finally see the two lead smugglers who had been gloating earlier, now staring up in shock and growing horror into the masked face of Zero. One stood by the light switch, the other in the centre of the floor. It disturbed her how normal they looked - just ordinary businessmen in moderately expensive suits, currently scared out of their wits.

"We are the Order of the Black Knights!" Zero boomed, drowning out the smugglers' panicked shouts. "Your despicable thieving from the poor, hungry and vulnerable has gone on long enough! Surrender yourselves and face justice!"

Frightened and cornered, the smugglers lost any semblance of organization. One of the leaders bellowed "Shoot them!" to his subordinates as he dived for cover, while the other simply ran for the exit - where he would find the secondary squads waiting for him. Some of the others followed suit, others obeyed the order to fire and were promptly cut down by the Black Knights from their superior position, while a few simply threw up their hands in defeat.

As the Black Knights checked the room for surviving armed enemy or fugitives hiding among the crates and shelves, Lelouch's gaze lingered on three dead smugglers lying behind a desk. One in particular drew Nunnally's eye. The man lay on his side, his eyes still open and staring into the camera. The head wound that had killed him was leaking glistening fluid onto the floor, and jagged chips of bone and mangled brain matter were visible inside. Nunnally turned away from the screen in revulsion, her hand going to her mouth as she fought the urge to throw up. Sayoko was beside her in a flash.

"I can't do this," Nunnally whimpered, the nausea receding as Sayoko stroked her brow with a cool hand. "I'm too weak..."

"No!" Sayoko said sharply. "It's not weak to be shocked at the sight of death, Nunnally-sama. It takes a cold heart or long experience to make that feeling go away."

She recalled a vivid memory of Lelouch's, of him vomiting and shaking under the shower after the reality of his killing Clovis set in. "Have...have you ever had to kill anyone, Sayoko?"

"Once. During the invasion." Sayoko's eyes looked far away. "To protect the Ashfords from looters. My father always said that one should see only the mission, set aside compassion and human feeling for the enemy...but," she added hastily at Nunnally's frown, "I'm not sure I ever really agreed with him. I would do it again, though, if it was a choice between the life of an attacker and yours, or Lelouch-sama's, or Milly-sama's."

Nunnally nodded, understanding. The same principle could be applied to the smugglers, she knew; the supplies they stole from the ghettos could well mean the difference between life and death for hundreds of people.

"Are you holding up all right there, Nunnally?" Lelouch asked quietly over his helmet microphone. "I shouldn't have looked at that body, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine, Oniisama," she replied, hastily turning back to the computer. "I just got a shock, that's all. Is everyone all right?"

"Yes, it went off without a hitch. We're collecting the supplies for distribution later."

"That's good. Ah...could you film the supplies being handed out? I'd like to see them going to the people that need them. Actually, you could broadcast it to show what the Black Knights can do besides fighting," she added with a flash of inspiration.

"That's an excellent idea - I was considering the same thing."

/**/

"These are very good," Nunnally said, leafing through the sketchbook. The neat, lifelike pencil drawings that crowded each page varied seemingly at random between landscapes, the occasional portrait, crowd scenes and dozens of interesting still-lifes of all kinds of objects. "Oh, I like this one." She pointed to an image of a street scene reflected in what looked like a car headlamp, the distortions created by the curved surface meticulously reproduced. "You use so many different subjects."

Will shrugged. "I just draw whatever's interesting. Ordinary things can be unusual or beautiful if you take a fresh look at them. Ah, like you were saying the other day, I guess." She nodded. "Well, that and it's easier to get objects to keep still than people," he admitted.

Nunnally laughed. "Well, I think I can fit sitting still for an hour or two so you can do the sketches for my portrait into my schedule. I'm doing a bunch of extra work at the moment, my brother's tutoring me," she explained at his quizzical look.

"Great! Oh, one other thing - do you need people for the human chess game at the Eyes Festival? I think I can mobilize some of the Drama Club."

Nunnally had almost forgotten Milly's most recent idea for the celebration, which she had seized on on hearing that Nunnally had beaten Lelouch at chess (something no-one else in the school, or unknown to most, the country, had been able to do). "Yes! That would be great. My brother already has a queue a mile long of girls wanting to be on his side - it would be good to have a middle school team to show them what for."

"OK, I'll-"

They were interrupted by Mr. Arnstein clearing his throat from the doorway, though the bell hadn't rung yet.

"I'd better get going. See you tomorrow, then?" Will smiled brightly at her nod, and hurried to his seat just ahead of the teacher. Nunnally retreated into her thoughts, running over in her mind the list of nobles and important officials Lelouch expected to show up to tomorrow's Clovisland opening, trying to recall all their faces from the photographs he had found. Then her ears caught her name being spoken near the front of the room. Looking over, she identified a thin boy with an unpleasant smirk on his face, whose name she didn't know, as the speaker. He was sitting on Will's left, leaning into his personal space. A broad-shouldered boy was looming in on Will's right, trapping him between the two of them.

"You a pervert, Willy? You like to do it with cripples?" the first boy sneered.

"Maybe he thinks she'll be easy," said the second. "'Course, what he's forgetting is that her brother probably got there ages ago." His voice turned high and mocking. "'Oh, oh...big brother, give it to me harder-'"

"Shut up!" Will hissed. "Don't say things like that, or I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"I can hear everything you're saying about me, you know," Nunnally called across the room, not even thinking to keep her voice low. The words came out low and harsh, and people around the room turned to stare at her. The larger of the two boys paled and looked away as he met her angry gaze, while the thin boy jumped, then snorted and gave her an insolent, defiant grin. Between them, Will's eyes had gone very wide.

"Mr. White! Mr. Krupp! See me after class, if you please. Now, if we could kindly have quiet..."

Nunnally took a deep breath to calm herself, ignoring the shocked stares she was getting. Did people really think things like that about her and her brother? She shrugged it off with some effort; bullies and idiots would think what they wanted. More importantly, she had used the tone and inflections of Lelouch's intimidating Zero voice without thinking, much as she used his chess strategies. She would have to watch herself to avoid making people suspicious. And what would happen once she started using her Geass on other people as well? She swallowed; no point in worrying about it now.

/**/

"The parade of fine specimens of both sexes here today will be quite the feast for Nunnally's eager young eyes," Milly said, putting her arms behind her head and stretching to model her bikini. She winked at Shirley.

"P-President! You shouldn't say such perverted things about Nunnally!"

"Why? A whole new world of beauty has been opened to our friend; you should be happy for her." Shirley could only stammer in response, while Kallen and Nina coughed embarrassedly.

"Well...I think you all look very nice," Nunnally smiled as Sayoko wheeled her out of the changing area and up to the rest of the group. Her curiosity piqued by Milly's teasing, she examined the differences between her friends. Shirley and Kallen's sleek athleticism was obvious to see, rather belying Kallen's sickly front. Milly was markedly plumper and rounder, with highly emphatic curves that were drawing the attention of passing young - and not so young - men, something she was clearly aware of. By contrast, Nina was hanging back, obviously feeling like the ugly duckling and displaying herself rather less in her more modest one-piece, but Nunnally thought she looked pretty too, just less obviously so.

"And here's someone else who looks very nice," Milly said. "We may have to form a bodyguard to keep the ravening hordes away from your brother, Nunnally."

"That's very kind of you to offer, Madam President." Lelouch smiled, while at his side Rivalz looked put out at not being included in the teasing compliment. Nunnally felt a quiet sense of pride at how handsome - pretty, really - her brother was, though his ribs were sticking out under the open shirt he wore to keep the sun off his pale skin. She made a mental note to ensure he was eating properly from now on.

"Isn't that Suzaku?" Shirley asked, pointing, as they made their way towards the poolside through the crowd waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"It is! Hi, Suzaku!" Milly called. Suzaku, who was sitting on a lounger talking to a woman with purple hair, looked up.

"President? What are you doing here?"

"My father's a local dignitary, so I managed to get tickets for everyone," Milly explained.

"Everyone? Oh - Lelouch! Nunnally!"

Nunnally waved to their childhood friend. She had known Suzaku was strong and fit - borrowed memories showed him performing impossible-looking aerial maneuvers and effortlessly pulling Lelouch onto the school roof with one hand - but she hadn't expected him to be quite so muscular. He was so lean that he showed clear definition all over his body, quite different from Lelouch or Rivalz. Nunnally had never seen anything quite like it, and found the play of light across the ripples on his pale golden-brown skin oddly fascinating. Her mouth went dry as she recalled all the times he had touched her and realized how careful and gentle he must have been.

"See something relevant to your interests, Nunnally?" Milly murmured in her ear, startling her. Realizing she had been staring, she blushed and stammered wordlessly, at which Milly laughed, though not unkindly. "Don't worry, it just means you're a healthy, growing girl. Suzaku's making most of the other men and boys here look out of shape."

"I guess so..." Still embarrassed, Nunnally looked around at the multitude of different body shapes in view, ranging from obese older men to undernourished-looking women even thinner than Lelouch.

"You two should be safe over here, but don't draw attention," Suzaku was saying quietly.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked.

"You'll see; I think this is them now..."

The public address system blared the opening bars of the Britannian national anthem. "And now, to open the Clovisland resort, we are pleased to present Her Imperial Highness, Viceroy and Second Princess..."

"Princess Cornelia?" The hubbub drowned out the announcement as the crowd reacted to the Witch of Britannia's appearance, chattering eagerly at the surprise of her showing up to an unimportant PR event like this...as well as her rather unusual attire. Cameras clicked and flashed, capturing the rare sight of an imperial princess in a bikini. The black fabric set off her pale skin and violet hair, but Nunnally thought that all the extra straps must make it rather uncomfortable and hard to put on. She was flanked by a tall, thin bespectacled man and a massive, scarred older one. From Lelouch's memories, she recognized them as Gilbert Guilford, Cornelia's personal knight, and Andreas Darlton, her chief military advisor.

"Princess Euphemia!" she heard Nina gasp excitedly from the back of the group. Euphie was wearing what seemed like not so much a swimsuit as half a dress held together with ribbons, in shades of pale pink that complemented her hair. She looked beautiful, and grown-up, and happy. Nunnally sighed, wishing she could call her half-sister's name and tell her that she and Lelouch were alive and well. That would be madness, though.

"Today," Cornelia began in strident tones more suited to a battlefield than the current surroundings. "I am pleased to announce the successful completion of the Clovisland pool, one of the public works projects left behind by my late brother."

Nunnally suddenly realized what a golden opportunity lay in front of her. She activated her Geass with the familiar sparking sensation and turned it on Cornelia, then on the two men at her side for good measure. She coughed to cover up her reaction to the information dump, watching to see if any of them had noticed the effect. Cornelia stopped speaking for a moment, which brought Nunnally's heart into her mouth, but then she resumed as if she had simply paused to remember the next part of her speech.

"President, look how intently Lulu is staring at the Princess!" Nunnally heard Shirley whisper behind her. "He looks like he could spring on her at any moment!"

"He's not the only one," Milly replied drily. "It seems the siblings share some similar tastes."

"What?"

"Princess Cornelia is really impressive, isn't she, Oniisama? What could her secret be, I wonder?" Nunnally said quickly with feigned innocence. Lelouch gave her an odd look, and she winked at him with her Geass eye. He nodded, understanding.

"I imagine the Princess trains in all sorts of ways with her male subjects, Nunnally," Milly put in. "No doubt that's why she draws the eye so."

Nunnally considered this obvious innuendo, which Milly had probably not expected her to understand. Not surprisingly, it was completely untrue; as far as she could tell, Cornelia had no lovers, though her two subordinates did seem to be rather fond of her (and her current outfit). Impulsively, she played along with Milly's statement.

"I don't have any male subjects, though...Oniisama, perhaps we could ask Suzaku to help train me in all sorts of ways?" Nunnally carefully avoided looking in Suzaku's direction to keep herself from going red again or bursting out laughing.

"I'm sure he'd be happy to."

"Who wouldn't be? It would be an honour for anyone," Milly agreed. "But who else? Perhaps you should back Suzaku up, Lelouch; surely you don't want to leave your dear sister's training entirely to others?"

Nunnally said nothing to avoid revealing that she understood what was being discussed, but was unable to keep her face from turning warm. She knew Milly was just teasing, but it reminded her uncomfortably of those boys in her class taunting Will.

"Actually, I've already taught Nunnally everything I know," Lelouch said with a commendably straight face.

"What?" Shirley wailed. "Lulu! You're joking, right?"

"I guess this is what they call a beautiful but dangerous sibling love," Milly mused.

"Do I want to know what you guys are talking about?" Suzaku asked.

Nunnally turned to reply, but no sound came out of her mouth. The instant she saw him, it triggered a memory that must have come from Cornelia or one of her subordinates. Milly was laughing as she teased a shocked Suzaku, while Shirley spluttered behind her, but Nunnally barely heard.

"Oniisama," she said quietly, tugging Lelouch's arm, "Can we go back for a moment? I need to tell you something important."

"Of course. I'll say you're not feeling well." Lelouch turned back to the others, while Nunnally headed back towards the changing areas with Sayoko's help. When they were well away from the crowd, they stopped and waited for Lelouch to catch up.

"It's about Suzaku," Nunnally said, switching to Ancient Greek for extra safety, as they often did now when they discussed something confidential. "He's the pilot of the Lancelot."

"The Lancelot?"

"The white Knightmare that attacked you at Shinjuku, and showed up at Lake Kawaguchi."

/**/

"What?" Lelouch clenched his fists. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, it was definitely in Cornelia's memories. She doesn't like having a Knightmare piloted by a Japanese person, but apparently he's the only one who can make it work, and it's being developed by Schneizel, so she can't do anything about it except avoid making use of him. It was her idea to send him into the tunnel at the hoteljacking as a distraction...she thought he'd be killed."

Suzaku was placing himself in terrible danger operating the experimental weapon, and Lelouch couldn't understand why. He remembered what he had said when he opted to go and face his court-martial - did he really believe that Britannia would change just because he tried to set a noble example? The Empire's rulers and institutions only accepted change imposed on them from a position of strength, history made that abundantly clear.

"Damn it," he spat. "We'll have to decide what to do about this later. Are you OK to continue?" he asked in a gentler tone, seeing Nunnally's expression.

"Yes." She visibly steeled herself. "We can't let this opportunity go to waste. I should use my Geass on that woman who was sitting next to Suzaku as well as the people on the list. She's one of the Lancelot's designers - maybe we can figure out a way to disable it or sabotage it so we won't have to fight him."

"Nunnally, you're a genius." She flushed at the compliment. He smiled, then something else important occurred to him. "Did you get anything from Cornelia about Mother's death?"

Nunnally nodded. "She had nothing to do with it. Mother...Cornelia really admired her; she spent months investigating the murder, but didn't find anything."

"Really?" Lelouch said, thinking out loud rather than questioning Nunnally's word. If Cornelia was not only innocent but knew nothing, then his only remaining lead was Schneizel, who was far out of reach.

"There is one thing. The reason that there were so few guards on the grounds when Mother was killed was that...she asked Cornelia to send them away."

"What? Did she say why?"

"No."

He considered this. "Then...Mother must have been expecting a visitor, or more than one, who she trusted but whose identity – or just the fact that they were there – had to be kept secret. Occam's Razor; this mysterious guest must be the assassin, or at least involved in the murder in some way."

Nunnally nodded. "Because if they had been killed too, their body would have been found, and if they survived but disappeared, it's probably because they're guilty."

"Exactly. But who?" As always, there was too little information to go on. If the list of suspects no longer had to be limited to those with the authority to subvert the security, then it became very long. It could even be someone he had no knowledge of, some enemy from their mother's past before she joined the Emperor's harem or even the Knights of the Round. However…there still remained the issue of the pathetic excuse for an official investigation. Someone – whether the assassin or someone with an interest in protecting him or her – had engineered that, someone with enough authority to hide the truth even from Cornelia, and that brought him back to the senior members of the Imperial Family. Nothing had changed, he thought grimly.

/**/

Nunnally sat up in bed, furiously scribbling on a notepad. Lelouch had sensibly suggested she rest rather than following the evening's mission - reading the minds of several dozen people in a short space of time had proved mentally exhausting. She had tried to sleep, but worry and the muddle of new information in her mind made it difficult.

"Nunnally?" Lelouch stood in the door, holding the case he kept his Zero costume in. "You're still awake? It's after one."

"I couldn't sleep - I'm writing down some of what I learned today, in case I forget it. The mission went all right?"

"Like clockwork. We grabbed all the Refrain distributors, and I got the names of the people further up the supply chain." He yawned. "Don't stay up too much longer."

"I won't - you should go to sleep too, Oniisama, you look exhausted."

"I will. Good night."

The door closed behind Lelouch, and Nunnally peered back down at her notes. The guest list for a conference on labour allocation was jotted next to a jumble of numbers which she thought were the Lancelot's shield emitter settings, which in turn overlapped a very bad sketch map of the maximum-security prison attached to the Tokyo Settlement. She groaned and rubbed her temples - untangling and collating all the information was going to be a nightmare. The sound of the door made her look up again, seeing a familiar white-clad figure leaning against the frame.

"Lelouch has stolen his bed back and passed out," C.C. said. "Very rude of him, considering how I had to run around after him through the ghettos while he interrogated Refrain dealers."

"Thank you for looking after him, C.C." Nunnally knew their enigmatic 'contractor' followed Lelouch when he went out as Zero, even if neither of them acknowledged it. "There's plenty of room if you want to sleep here, if you don't mind helping shift me over. There's spare pillows in the closet." It would be nice to have company for a change, like when she used to stay with Euphie. She and Lelouch had slept together sometimes for warmth and comfort when they came to Japan, but not since they moved into the Academy.

"I hear you've been putting your new power to good use."

"I figured out how to make it less stressful; if I only hold eye contact for a second by blinking, I get the information but not the more powerful memories. It gives me a less complete picture of the person, but...well, I'm not sure I'd want to get too far into the minds of some of the people I read." Cornelia and her advisors' severe mindset of martial honour and unthinking superiority was at least consistent, but the sheer hypocritical smugness of some of the other nobles filled her with uncharacteristic disgust. To believe themselves part of some destined master race while relying on 'commoner' subordinates and Number slaves to exercise and maintain their unearned power and privilege...it would be laughable if it was less destructive.

"No-one is a saint in the privacy of their own head. That can be as hard to accept as the demons."

"Did you give someone else a Geass like this?" Nunnally asked, not really expecting an answer. She was proven right when C.C. turned away.

"I'm going to change."

When she returned, C.C. was very gentle as she lifted Nunnally's legs to move her to the left side of the bed, and tucked her half of the covers back around her carefully. She curled up on her side facing away from her, hair spread out in a wide fan. Nunnally watched her curiously for a while, listening to her steady breathing.

"C.C.?" No reply. "Are you...all right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well...you were imprisoned by the military, and it sounds like they were experimenting on you or something. That must be hard to deal with."

"I'm fine. I was drugged most of the time."

"OK..." Nunnally, who was experienced at putting on a brave face to not worry other people, didn't believe a word of it. "But...if you do want to talk about it, or just don't want to be alone, I'm here."

"Right. I doubt you'd understand."

Nunnally quashed a piqued retort. "I couldn't bear to be by myself for months after I was injured. If Lelouch left me alone for more than a few minutes, I would get scared or frustrated...I couldn't move, I couldn't see, I didn't know what was going on or where he was. I used to scream until I went hoarse, break things; I threw myself out of my wheelchair or out of bed dozens of times and usually hurt myself. Lelouch never got angry with me, but I could tell how frustrated he was, and that made it worse. Sometimes I wished I had died along with our mother..." She trailed off, not wanting to relive that bleak and miserable period of her life.

"You obviously got over it."

"Yes. I don't know if I would have if we hadn't met Suzaku, though."

"Your troublesome Japanese friend?" C.C.'s voice remained flat, but Nunnally detected a note of interest.

"The first time we met him, he and Lelouch got into a fight-"

"I don't suppose I need to ask who won."

"I suppose not." Nunnally's instinct was to defend her brother, but there was no denying that he was no good at all at fighting with his fists. "Suzaku only stopped hitting him when I begged him to - he hadn't noticed me at first - then he ran away."

"So you rescued Lelouch?"

"Well, probably it was more that Suzaku was embarrassed. I think he was a little scared of girls, though that might have had something to do with his cousin Kaguya." C.C. snorted. "We became friends after that, though, once he stopped seeing us as just a couple of Britannian invaders. Just having another person around did me good, forced me to stop feeling sorry for myself and think about something else. Lelouch took a bit longer to trust him...but then Suzaku saved me after I fell down a hole into a bomb shelter."

"So he's your knight in shining armour?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Nunnally caught C.C.'s drift, and felt a frisson of something unfamiliar go through her.

"What a shy, blushing little maiden you are."

"Well, yes. What did you expect?" Nunnally retorted, surprising herself a little. C.C. turned her head and gave her an amused, almost impressed look. She took the opportunity to return to the original subject. "So anyway, I do understand something of what you might be going through. I only want to help, and be your friend if you'll let me."

For a moment she thought C.C. was going to say something, but she simply looked away again. "Goodnight, Nunnally. Hurry up and turn the light off, there's a good girl."

Sighing, Nunnally set aside her notes, clapped twice to switch off the new lamp on her bedside table, straightened her pillow, lay back and closed her eyes. C.C. had either gone to sleep instantly or was doing a very good imitation thereof with her even, regular breathing. Her unusual scent was unmistakable here in close proximity - Nunnally's nose was as sensitive as her ears, though she usually kept the fact that she could identify people by smell to herself, since some found it unsettling. C.C. smelled faintly of pizza, and also of Lelouch, since she was wearing one of his shirts again, but her own scent was strong and sweet, vaguely reminiscent of expensive liqueur or perfume. It was quite different to anyone else Nunnally knew, but not unpleasant - just odd, much like C.C. herself.

She fell asleep, finally tired out but with her mind still churning with data and pondering the problem of Suzaku. Her dreams were odd, but she forgot them as soon as she woke up.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Omake (with apologies to Michael Poe, author of **_**Exploitation Now**_**)**

"Well, the figures are in," Lelouch said as the student council (minus their glorious leader) sat around the table, still in their swimwear. "Our review levels are healthy, but we only got a 10% boost from the extra blood, partial nudity and sexual innuendo in this chapter."

The council room door was abruptly kicked open by Milly...carrying an enormous machine gun, Rambo-style. "That's right!" the President announced bouncily (in more ways than one). "And that's why, instead of a punchline for this omake, I'm just going to be stripping off and blowing Rivalz' head off with a very large gun!"

"Wh...what the *()&%?" Rivalz gasped as the others scattered out of the line of fire.

"Nice one Rivalz, we need more bad language too. Now hold still and try to bleed cinematically..." Milly removed her bikini top and took aim.

_(For anyone/everyone who doesn't get the by now very obscure reference, many years ago the author of the webcomic _Exploitation Now_ deliberately did a strip much like the above sketch in order to increase his rating on the List Of Potentially Offensive Webcomics. It worked.)_

**Notes:** For the curious, the idea for C.C.'s outrageous flavour ((C) Cleolinda Jones of _Movies In Fifteen Minutes _and her parodies of _Twilight_) arose from the fact that Nunnally mistakes V.V. for her when he pops up behind her at the end of R1. Since I doubt their footsteps sound anything alike, I figure they both have an unusual smell due to their metabolism being different to an ordinary human's.

**Notes For Reviewers: **I've been surprised and pleased by the number of responses to this fic, which I believe is now my most reviewed story ever (even including ones which have been taken down). At the risk of sounding like a fusspot/netiquette nazi, here are a few requests for future reviewers:

1) Please, if you liked the story, say what you particularly liked and why if possible. It's much more gratifying when reviewers are specific, and it allows me to keep doing whatever it is I'm doing right!

2) Similarly, if you didn't like something, please say what and (more importantly) why.

3) Please try to write reviews I can understand. I'm going to be charitable and assume that the multiple anonymous reviewers who wrote things like "kallen put as a couple of lelouch" were translating from another language using Babelfish or something...

4) On that note, if you want me to include something in the story or take it in a particular direction, please ask nicely and give a reason.


	4. Chapter 4: After School Special Part 1

_**Disclaimer:**__ Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Bandai et al. No money is being made from this fanfic and it will be removed if the above parties so request. All your base are belong to us._

**Important Note 1: **Chapters 2 and 3 have been revised in response to the many helpful comments I got from reviewers, including adding scenes from Lelouch's POV to keep him in the limelight and addressing the issue of Nunnally learning what Cornelia knew about Marianne's assassination (which I had meant to include but stupidly forgot about).

**Important Note 2:** This is just the first two scenes of Chapter 4, to satisfy the seemingly quite large number of people following this fic while I finish the remainder (and to let everyone know about the changes to Chapters 2-3). I'm sorry it's so short - a third scene between Nunnally and Suzaku was originally going to be in here as well, but I got hopelessly bogged down in it.

**Code Geass: Children of the Revolution  
Chapter 4: After School Special (Part 1)**

Kallen lay face down on her bed, too tired to move but too excited to go back to sleep. The mission last night had gone flawlessly as always - the Black Knights had descended on a platoon of military police who had been terrorizing the Japanese population in Harajuku ghetto. By threatening people picked up for curfew violations with prosecution for worse crimes, they had been collecting all manner of 'favours' depending on the age, gender and attractiveness of their victims. Seeing their faces when she popped up from a supposedly rubble-choked subway tunnel in the Black Knights' new Knightmare had been well worth the long and boring wait in the dark.

Earlier that day, they had also handed out the supplies liberated from the smuggling ring in the ghetto. Zero had made a point of having the distribution filmed to show people that the Black Knights were about more than just shooting bad guys, taking care to blur out the faces of the community leaders to prevent reprisals, before uploading it to the Internet.

The only thing spoiling her mood was her failure to get anywhere in following up on her suspicions about Lelouch Lamperouge and his sister. She had had ample opportunity to observe them at the student council planning sessions for the upcoming Eyes Festival, and even to talk to Nunnally alone when she took a break from decoration-making 'to catch her breath', but so far she had found nothing much to contradict her initial impressions of them. Lelouch was laid-back to the point of apathy except for his intense devotion to his sister, and Nunnally was sweet and mild-mannered, childlike in some ways and surprisingly mature in others. She did seem to have become more talkative since her sight had returned, making the odd incisive comment and joining in the council's bantering conversation where before she might have remained quietly in the background, but that was hardly evidence of anything sinister.

A loud crash from outside interrupted her fruitless musing. Hastily throwing on her dressing gown, she opened the door and looked out into the hall. One of the chandeliers had come down in a spray of crystal fragments, and a familiar, unwelcome figure in a maid's uniform was standing over the debris wringing her hands. She looked up from her handiwork, eyes teary and unfocused.

"Oh! Kallen...Miss Kallen, I mean..." her mother stammered.

"Clean this up! I have to go to school soon."

"You've been going to school a lot lately. Have you made any friends?"

"I hardly think that's any of your business!" Kallen snapped, turning away and slamming the door behind her. She slumped against the wall and groaned. Why did her mother have to be such a weak, pathetic doormat? And why couldn't she make herself not care anymore?

/**/

Shirley observed the intensity with which Will Keating sketched his portrait of Nunnally with a certain fellow-feeling. His eyes flickered back and forth between his model and the paper while his pencil worked to capture the line of her cheek. At his nervous direction, she had parked her wheelchair in a quiet part of one of the school corridors below one of the high windows. Her face was half illuminated by the golden afternoon sunlight and half in the shade as she rested her chin in one hand, elbow on the windowsill and looking pensively out at the central courtyard beyond. She (or Sayoko) had brushed out her long hair a little straighter than usual, and it caught the light like warm honey. It must have been a fair bit of work, Shirley guessed - her own hair was trouble enough to manage with all the swimming she did, and Nunnally's was much thicker and wavier - but worth it.

Will was obviously very talented - Shirley would have said so if she had been willing to break his concentration. Lelouch had been very reluctant to let his precious sister be stared at by a boy for an hour or more, and wanted to chaperone the sketching session himself. Nunnally had vetoed the idea, however, pointing out that Lelouch would probably scare the wits out of the poor artist and put him off. Shirley had offered her services as an alternative, and been delighted when Lelouch had accepted. She knew how important Nunnally's safety was to him; it was gratifying to know that he trusted her with it.

Not that there seemed to be the slightest chance of anything untoward happening. Will seemed to be a perfect little gentleman, and obviously thought the world of Nunnally - he couldn't have been more courteous and deferential to her if she had been an Imperial princess. He was positively apologetic when he asked her to shift or adjust her expression, and he blushed and stammered when she smiled or laughed. It was terribly endearing, although she had the impression that Nunnally was innocently oblivious to his admiration. It must run in the family, Shirley thought wistfully. She wondered if she should at least drop Nunnally a hint or two, but decided she had better not. It would be horrible if someone told Lelouch about her feelings for him before she was ready to tell him herself.

Whether or not to put her name down for his chess team was something she had dithered over for days. Half the girls in the high school division had signed up almost immediately the game was announced; there had been outright fights in the corridors over who was going to be his queen. What was the point of being lost in a crowd of a couple of hundred silly fangirls who knew him even less well than she did? But if she didn't, would he get the wrong idea? In the end, cowardice had won out, though she had felt better about doing nothing when Lelouch showed almost total indifference to the process of selecting his pieces from the list of candidates. The student council were due to meet for the final costume fitting for the king and queen pieces today, but she still had no idea who his queen was going to be; Milly was keeping it a secret.

"All done," Will said at last. "You can relax now, Miss Nunnally; sorry to take so long." He set his pencil down and blew gently on the page to keep it from smudging.

"It's fine." Nunnally looked round, flexing the arm she had been leaning on a little. "Can I see, or would you rather..."

"I-it's just a bunch of sketches at the moment." Will hastily closed his notebook. "They're kind of a muddle...I'd prefer to wait and show you the finished portrait, i-if that's OK."

"All right. I'll look forward to it."

"Oh, the costumes for the chess game arrived. They're really elaborate; did the President have them made specially?"

"I think she keeps the Fashion Club in the high school division busy turning out clothes for her pretty much all the time," Nunnally explained. "Did they fit all right?"

"Yes, although...I think we only got the pawns, knights, bishops and rooks. Do you have a king and queen?"

"My brother and I are playing the kings, and our friend Suzaku agreed to be my queen. I didn't think you or any of your friends would want to dress as a girl..."

"President Ashford wanted to combine Nunnally's event with the cross-dressing festival the high school had last year," Shirley put in. "Be glad we persuaded her not to make Nunnally's whole team wear girls' clothes, to match with her brother's." The entire group would probably have run a mile at the prospect; boys their age were very insecure about that sort of thing. "Now it's just the kings and queens." Lelouch had recruited Suzaku for Nunnally's team straight away when the human chess game was suggested and 'volunteered' him as her queen, probably to keep all those middle school boys from getting any ideas.

Will nodded but looked a trifle disappointed; she guessed he was weighing the thrill of playing Nunnally's consort against the humiliation of wearing a dress in public. "Well...thank you very much, Miss Shirley. I'm sorry to have taken up so much of your time."

"It was nothing," she assured him. "I enjoyed watching you work."

"I'll see you in class tomorrow, Miss Nunnally?"

"Certainly." Nunnally smiled up at him as she pushed her hair behind her ears, and Shirley felt another pang of sympathy at the pole-axed expression on his face. He bobbed his head to them both again and hurried off.

"Will seems like a very nice boy," she prompted.

"He is," Nunnally said, nodding.

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, Shirley thought. "Oh, he left one of his pencils." She picked it up from the bench where he had sat - it was definitely part of the set he had been using, a large soft-leaded one for shading. If she gave it to Nunnally to hand back to him tomorrow, she thought deviously, it would be an excuse for him to talk to her, or she could go after him now herself and take the opportunity to give him some encouragement. "I'll catch up with him before he gets to his dorm," she decided. "It won't take a moment, then we can go to the clubhouse."

"I'll meet you there," Nunnally said with a smile. Shirley mentally slapped herself - of course she could find her own way now. Nodding, she took off after Will, heading for the middle school dormitories on the other side of the campus. When she rounded the corner of the science block, she caught sight of him, and her eyes narrowed. Two other boys were accosting him in an obvious parody of friendliness, the taller and burlier of the two draping an arm round his shoulders while the other leaned into his face and said something that made him blanch angrily. She quickened her pace and approached them.

"C'mon, Willy, we just want to see your picture of your girlfriend," the thinner boy said in a wheedling voice as she came within earshot.

"She's not..."

"Only because you're too chicken to make a move. It's not like she's going to run away." The large one snickered at that, and the speaker made a grab for Will's bag, which he was hugging tightly against his chest.

"Hey!" Shirley called. "Stop that this instant!"

The three boys looked up; the large one opened his mouth, then closed it again and hastily let go of Will.

"Just kidding around, miss," the thin boy said with an insolent grin. "Let's go, Karl. You're quite the ladies' man these days, Willy." They hurried off as she glared at them.

"Thank you, Miss Shirley." Will opened his backpack and carefully inspected the precious sketchbook.

"It was nothing," she said firmly. "You should report those two if they keep bothering you."

"Right..." Shirley sighed inwardly at his closed look - boys could be so stupid. No doubt he would rather let those idiots make his life a misery indefinitely than admit he couldn't deal with them by himself.

"Oh, this is yours." She remembered the pencil and handed it over; he took it with another thank-you. "Listen, Will...you've been a good friend to Nunnally, and I appreciate that. I know she does too."

That seemed to cheer him up. "I'm happy to help. I wish I could have done more, before."

Shirley understood. "Things have been difficult for her, even though she always tries to be strong and not complain."

Will emphatically nodded agreement. "I could never understand why people called her weak, when she had to deal with...all that, but could still be so calm and cheerful all the time, and be nice to everyone even when they were being completely unhelpful or rude. I'd..." He trailed off.

"Sounds like you really like her." She smiled gently to show that she wasn't mocking him, but he flushed and looked at the ground anyway.

"I-I guess so..."

"Have you told her how you feel?" Shirley asked impulsively, guessing the answer.

"No..." The poor boy looked terrified at the suggestion, though she could hardly criticize. "I'm no good at explaining things in words. That's why I wanted to do a portrait of her, to show her..."

"That's a great idea!"

"Well, assuming her brother doesn't have me beaten up in an alley or something. Is it true that he has gangster friends who owe him money?"

She laughed. "I don't think so. That sounds like a rumour that's been through the gossip mill a few times. No, Lu- Lelouch isn't so scary when you know him, he's just very protective of Nunnally. I'll be sure to tell him what a gentleman you were today."

Will took his leave with more profuse and painfully earnest thanks. Shirley wore a bright smile as she walked back across the campus. It faded a little as the thought crossed her mind that perhaps she was being selfish in hoping that Nunnally would get closer to her admirer. If Lelouch could be persuaded to let his sister out from under his gaze a little, then perhaps he would be more open to a relationship of his own... No, she thought sternly, she wanted her friend to be happy; Nunnally was a lovely girl and it was wonderful that someone her own age recognized that. Still, she resolved not to push her into anything. She would just observe, and be around to support both of them, and hopefully things would work out.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Notes: **I've posted a poll on my author page asking about people's favourite among my other Geass fics, partly in the hope of encouraging people who've only been following this one to read them as well. I assume _Children_ is more popular because it's more Lelouch-centric and closer to the canon plotline, but I consider _Nunnally of the Liberation_ and _Nunnally of Britannia_ to be just as well written and more creative, especially the latter. (_Pretty Magical Revolutionary Knight Nunnally_ is obviously more in the vein of light relief.) I'd urge those chafing at the bit for more of this fic to give my other works a try if they haven't already.


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